In the first launch of a triple header planned for the weekend, a Falcon 9 rocket carrying 21 Starlink satellites, 13 with direct cell capability, lifted off from Cape Canaveral early Saturday and successfully delivered its payload to orbit.
It was the 187th launch of the company’s Starlink internet relay satellites.
The satellites are designed to provide communications services in high-latitude regions not served by traditional geosynchronous satellites.
The total number of Starlinks launched so far is 6,854, of which 6,239 were deemed functional on Saturday’s flight, according to space statistician Jonathan McDowell.
SpaceX will attempt two more launches on Sunday, one from Kennedy Space Center to put 23 more Starlinks into orbit and another from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California to carry the twin relay stations of the SpaceX’s Arctic Broadband Satellite Mission. Norway Space to a highly elliptical orbit.
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